This month, we’re doing a little #techtalk on one of our biggest & best tools we can use in small business…automation. But more than that, we’re talking about how you can simplify your life using our 3 step process (make sure to read below!)
Now before you get scared off…..don’t worry, because we’re making it simple and accessible for all business owners here.
Because if you’re anything like me, techie words and IT lingo make me want to run for the hills. In fact when I worked in the corporate world, I regularly found myself frustrated and quite honestly feeling a little dumb because I had NO freaking clue what half of those IT words meant!
But we’re not IT people, we’re not even that techie…but what we are, is business owners who are also moms who wanted to find a way to save time, make the business run smoothly, manage our mental health alongside it. And using simple tech and tools is the foundation of how we do that. And we want to share it with you because it has transformed not only our business, but also our clients as well.
Sooo, on that note…let’s talk about automation and how it can be used to both simplify and streamline your business.
Definition according to Websters: “the technique of making an apparatus, a process, or a system operate automatically.”
Definition according to us (and nope, this is not official): making something happen without you doing it. Set it & forget it.
Automation is just making things happen using technology, and especially using it to decrease anything manual you might be doing.
For example: scheduling social content, using a calendar tool like Calendly to book appointments, creating a simple funnel, setting reminders on Siri, setting up rules in your gmail, or getting a little more complicated using tools like Zapier, ClickUp and Dubsado to automate your client onboarding.
There are a range of complexities when it comes to automation, but you shouldn’t have to feel intimidated by them. Because honestly, literally anyone who uses a computer or phone can create simple automations that can save you hours in your home life and business.
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So why do you need it?
Ok, the most obvious one to us is time. You don’t have time to do every tiny little thing in your business, so why not use technology to save you some of that time?
But automation does more than that. It frees up you or your VAs, team members, etc. to use your brains on things that matter. When you are so bogged down with tiny administrative tasks/details, our brains don’t have time or energy to think creatively and be used to their full capacity.
Automation also reduces risk. If you have it set up correctly, there is less room for error.
In our line of work as busy Moms, entrepreneurs, friends, volunteers, etc. simple is almost always better. Which is why we advocate for small businesses to incorporate just a few simple tech tools to create efficiencies, save time, create a professional brand for your clients, and make their experience better too.
But aside from just simple automation, there are so many other things you can do to simplify your business/life.
Here is our 3 step process to review how we’re spending our time. We use this regularly to ensure we’re maintaining a simplified business, and to help us determine what we can improve in our business.
Write down your detailed to do list, preferably in a system like ClickUp, then prioritize your “MIT” most important things and when they need to be done by.
Next, take that list and identify your time wasters. Ask yourself, where are you spending time unnecessarily? Is it checking your email too often, brainstorming, perfecting, etc. Stop or ease up on your time wasters that aren’t serving you or your business.
Pick 1 time waster and identify 3 ways you can make it better. Think, can this be eliminated, automated or delegated? Now the fun part, start thinking about how you can do that.
It doesn’t have to be done overnight, but if you continuously review your tasks and time wasters, you can effectively eliminate, automate or delegate all the tasks that aren’t an effective use of your time, freeing that up to do what matters most to you.
And isn’t that what we want, need, have to have in our lives? More TIME. More time equals more money, more freedom, more happiness…and to us, is the root of why we do what we do.
So think simple. And just get started with ONE thing. Need help figuring out what that ONE thing might be? Set up a free 30 min business audit and let’s chat :)
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